Overview
- The Federal Statistical Office reported Friday that 3,517 children were adopted in 2025, a 4% decline from 2024 and the lowest annual total since 1990.
- Stepchild adoptions accounted for 75% of all adoptions in 2025, a rise from 54% in 2010 led largely by stepmothers in female same-sex couples who use stepchild adoption to gain legal parenthood under the German Civil Code.
- Traditional non-relative adoptions fell to 819 cases in 2025, while the year-end stock of children registered for adoption was 642 and adoption applications totaled 3,187, each a historic low.
- Adopted children in 2025 skewed young, with 27% under one year at adoption, an average adoption age of 5.1 years, and 74% having previously lived with a biological parent and a stepparent.
- Destatis says the trends could reduce options for children without parental care and are likely to push policymakers to focus on family support, child-protection procedures and access to reproductive services.